Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Height brings happiness, according to a study that also suggested tall people are more likely to have higher levels of income and education than smaller peers.

The study published in the journal Economics and Human Biology showed that tall people reported more enjoyment of life and less pain and sadness. Taller men also said they worry less though they are more likely to experience stress and anger than people of average height, said researchers led by Angus Deaton from Princeton University in New Jersey.

The findings support a hypothesis put forth in 2008 that tall people are more likely than shorter people to have reached their full cognitive potential, the researchers said. Poor nutrition and childhood diseases may stunt growth and limit mental development in some cases, they said.

“There is good evidence that cognitive and physical function develop together,” the researchers said. “It is this lack of full cognitive development that accounts for lower levels of education, and lower earnings in adulthood which, in turn, are almost entirely responsible for lower levels of life evaluation, and poorer emotional outcomes.”

The investigators compared the impact of height to other factors known to affect quality of life, including income. Each additional inch boosted happiness levels by the same amount as a 4.4 percent increase in family income for men and 3.8 percent pay raise for women.

Better Lives

“These findings cannot be attributed to different demographic or ethnic characteristics of taller people, but are almost entirely explained by the positive association between height and both income and education, both of which are positively linked to better lives,” the researchers concluded.

The conclusions were based on answers given by 454,065 U.S. adults during daily telephone surveys.

The shortest American women scored a 6.55 on a happiness scale that ranged from zero to 10, compared to 6.64 for those above the average height of 5 feet 4 inches. For men, the differences were slightly larger, with the smallest men scoring 6.41, compared with 6.55 for those over the 5 feet 10 inches- average height level.

The results didn’t spell despondence for all those on the shorter end of the height spectrum. People most likely to rate their lives as the “best possible” were a bit shorter than those who were a step or two lower on the happiness scale, the study found.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in London at mcortez@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 8, 2009 20:01 EDT